UK Regional Bench Minor

This weekend Cambridge hosted the first UK Regional Bench Minor. Teams from across the UK descended upon the polo warehouse. These included London, Bristol/Cardiff, Manchester, Brighton, Canterbury, Birmingham and a Cambridge A & B team. In my team there was Me, Josh, Hayden, RV, Bogey, Matt Power and Jo Shippey.

Our first game was against Birmingham in which we won 33-1. After this i had to go to work (polo costs money!) so i missed our game against the Cambridge B team which we won 22-4. Our next game was against London and i missed the first half, a very good game and Cambridge came out on top winning 12-10. Our fourth game and final of the day was against Brighton. it was close, i had a real shocker but we ended up winning and coming top of the group on Saturday. The London team won the prize of a free coffee and cake from a local favorite – the rainbow cafe.

After a very heavy night out and minimal sleep we arrived at the warehouse and played our first game against Bristol which we won Alfie was playing very well, cant wait to see how he plays in a couple of years! After this we played Brighton in the knockout stages. We decided to play a strong line up straight away and get in with the goals early. however this was not the case and the game was end-to-end and was 0-0 for around the first 8 minutes. after a very enjoyable game it ended up being a win for us. Then came the final, this was one of the best games i have ever played. for the first half we were playing very well, passing the ball. not getting caught up. i came off with 20 minutes to go. we managed to score 12 goals overall and in the last 10 minutes London really turned it on. goal after goal and a comeback was looking likely. but in the end this was not the case, as B scored the 11th goal the final whistle went. Playing against B was weird and there was lots of “sorry” and “are you alright” every time we collided! Im sure he will give a write up of his experience soon.

thank you all for turning up, this was a great tournament and you are all the best!

we all look so happy in this awesomely in focus picture. missing Hayden, RV and Jo!